Back to Bob Ponder's biography...

"I was a volunteer inductee in the U.S. Army Air Force. MacMillan obtained a deferment for me when my draft number came up even though I had not asked for one. I was doing research on making high octane aviation fuel at that time and the refinery had started making a gasoline blending components for aviation gasoline as a result of the research. My initial deferment was for six months and had to be renewed if my deferment was to continue. I volunteered just before the term was up. As I was on my way out of the draft board office, I met our company vice president who was on his way into the draft board office to renew my deferment. I told him that I wanted to do so he just turned around and walked out with me and wished me luck.

After I stopped running around so much, started keeping more regular hours along with sleeping and eating better after getting married. I started gaining weight again and weighed 190 pounds when I reported for basic training in September 1943. Basic training immediately started me on a weight loss program and I leveled out at 175 pounds during my term of service.

Had basic training at Sheppard Field, Wichita Falls, Texas for about seven weeks then was sent to Augustana College at Rock Island, Illinois for an accelerated College training course while classified as an Aviation student. Was there during the months of December, January, and about the first half of February. Quite a climatic change of winter months for a South Arkansas boy who had never been more than 150 miles from home until going in the service. Augustana is a Theological Seminary and the study of the history behind all the world's religions was a requirement for all the students. Also was given 10 hours of flight instruction in a Piper Cub airplane which was my first hands on experience with flying. Program also included intense physical training complete with cross country running up and down hills and obstacle courses. As a result of the running, jumping and marching, etc... my feet began to hurt so much that I went on sick call to have them checked. They sent me to a foot specialist in town. He reported that my arches were breaking down and that I should be given some duty that would keep me off my feet for at least two weeks. Reported back to the College Training Detachment with the doctor's written report and recommedation. They just taped my feet in a manner that I couldn't move my arches or ankles and sent me back with the rest of the trainees. Had to pass my final physical exams which included the cross country obstacle courses with my feet bandaged in order to go on to the Classification Center at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas with the guys. We went there in February after spending the winter months up North and immediately became sunburned.

All the aviation students had to go through classification to determine whether they could qualify for pilot, navigator, or bombardier training and enter the Air Cadet program. If you didn't qualify for one of the above, you would be shipped out to the ground forces. If you qualified for more than one, you had to make a choice. Classification was a series of mental, physical, co-ordination, and aptitude tests that were designed to see if all those individual characterstics were well balanced. If not

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